Island



.(No Model.)

' W; D. WESSON.

HAND STAMP.

No. 286,884. Patented Oct. 16, 1883 WITNEEIE E5 N. PEYERS. Prmv-Lnm n nm Washinghm n, c.

. Unrrnn Salar es PATENT Price.

VAL'TER D.I\VESSON, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

- HAND-STAIVI P.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 286,884, dated October 16, 1883.

Application filed September 23,1852. (No model.)

T at whom it may concern Be it known that I, XVALTER D. Wesson, in the city and county of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Hand-Stamps for Postmarking; and I do declare the following to be a specification thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

Like letters indicate like parts.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my invention, partly in vertical section, for the purpose of showing the manner of securing in position the p ostmarker and obliteratingblock. Figs. 2 and 5 are plans of the printing-faces of the postmarker and obliterator in position, the former before the movable types are inserted in the postmarker and the latter after saidtypes are so inserted. Fig.3 shows the upper or inner end of the postmarker with the spin-- dle or stud attached thereto. Figs. 4 and 6 I are detail views of the type.

My invention is an improvement upon the hand-stamps described and claimed in the following Letters Batent of the United States heretofore granted to me, via: No. 236,742, January 18, 1881; No. 249,863, November'22, 1881, and No. 263,268, August 22, 1882; and it consists in new devices, which I have added to my former inventions, for the purpose of more firmly securing in place the postmarkcr and obliterating-block and movable type.

In the drawings, A represents the handle, and B the transverse bar fixed thereto. 0 is the postmarker; I), the obliterator, and E the stud extending from the p ostmarker and holding the obliterator. F is the screw-pivot, passing through the bar and placed eccentrically within the postmarker C, and whereon the latter revolves. The construction, arrangement, and operation of these several parts of my invention have been fully specified in the several Letters Patent aforesaid.

In the practical use of my improved handstamp, as described in said Letters, Patent, I have found that some device to adjust more carefully and hold more rigidly the postmarker andobliterator is desirable. I have hitherto depended upon the pressure of the slotted and sprung stud E to hold the obliterator firmly by its friction. I now out a male screw-thread around the inner end of said stud, as shown at a in Figs. 1 and 3, and also provide said stud with a shoulder, I), at it junction with the post marker. The hole or holes in the obliterator D to receive said stud are cut with afemale screw-thread throughout the length, as shown at c in Fig. 1.

\Vhen the obliterator is to be adjusted, I swing it out at an angle to the bar B, as explained in my said former patents, and turn it to the desired position upon the stud E, bringing it by means of the screw-threads to such distance from the postmarker G as may be desired. The screw-threads ac by their engagement together prevent any movement of the obliterator along the stud, and also allow me to vary the distanceof the obliterator and postmarker apart from each other for whatever purpose as may require such variation of distance.

In my former inventions the pivot F has been an ordinary screw-stud entering the postmarker eccentrieally, and held thereto through the bar B by the nut G. tomed to so adjust said screw-pivot that when the postmarker has come into firm contact with the inner face of the bar B its stud E should extend beneath said barin the plane of the medial longitudinal line of said bar, andhavin g so adjusted the pivot F, I have then fastened it in such desired position by means of a pin passing through said bar B from the edge thereof into said pivot, thereby to prevent its turning; but in repeated use of my hand-stamp I have found that such nice adjustment may be lost by displacement or by the drawing of said pin by the force of the screw, the consequence of which is to change the direction of the stud E, or to impair the desired contact of the postmarker with the bar. To obviate this difficulty I provide the pivot F with a fixed collar, (1, which is received within the countersink 6 upon the inner face of the postmarker. I cut away fitting of a wrench thereon, by means of which contrivance I can turn the pivot to such a position as will insure the proper direction of the stud and its obliterator, as well as the firm con- I have been accusthe opposite sides of the collar (1, to enable the Y grooves 7L and cylindrical holes i, to receive said types. The head g, fitting in the groove h, prevents the turning of the type when inserted in the postmarker.

In further explanation of the drawings, I remark that Figs. 2 and5 show the printingfaccs of a stamp to be used in railroad post-oifices, the obliterating-block in both being the same, but rotated upon the stud E, to show its opposite printing-surface. Fig. 3 represents the inner end of the postmarker of the stamp ordinarily used in the postal service.

The distinction in the railroad-postal handstamp as compared with that usually employed is the supplemental type-block I, to be inserted in the slot j of the postinarker to denote the directionin which the mail is moving when the mail-matter is being stamped. This information has never hitherto been imprinted by a postm arker, buthas generally been signified by an initial cut in the obliterator. As the obliterator is designed to print upon the postage-stamp, while the postinarkcr prints upon a clear space on the envelope or wrapper, it

senses is evident that my arrangement secures more legible results.

I have shown in the drawings the stud E as slotted throughout its entire length; but itsis obviously within myinvention if I should dis pense with the slot and make a stud E solid.

I claim as a novel and useful invention, and

desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a hand-stamp, the stud E of a postmarker 0, having a scrcwthread, a, and engaging with an adjustable obliterator, D, having a screw-thread, 0, within its central opening, substantially as shown and for the pur- I \VALTER D. IVESSON. Vitnesses:

XVARREN R. PEROE, IDA I. FOSTER. 

